Fear Monger
by FatalNightmare357
Summary: A novel of the movie with an added twist- an OC. I'm sorry my summary isn't good... Movieverse.
1. Prologue

Fear Monger

By: FatalNightmare

My version of the movie with a little twist. I'm bad at summaries, but the story's worth the time... At least, I hope so. Movieverse.

Disclaimer: Ugh, my first one of these. I sigh. I do not own Iron Man, nor the novel (which I credit for the little part about how Pepper got her job, the type of missile he was dismantling, and other little tidbits.) Period. I do, however, own my character, Lynn.

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Prologue: In All Honesty

To be perfectly honest, Tony Stark didn't think his life could hit any speed bumps this large. This particular speed bump, he jested to himself as he pulled out the guts of a S-76 Category missile and laid it on the metalworking table, had all but sent him flying into Uranus's orbit, with no hopes of returning to Earth with his head attached properly. With his luck so far, it might as well be sticking out of his ass.

He thought it odd that his insurgent captors somehow knew of his presence in Afghanistan, since the military brass kept it under reps as a security measure, but that's probably because they had surveillance photos of the missiles he was presenting-- the Jericho. Either that or there was some spy of some sort. Either way, how they acquired the information didn't matter now, for he was in the present, and it was damn well treating him pretty shitty.

This lead Tony to think about his life so far. All of his life, he has known nothing but the influence of his father, Howard Stark, whom he didn't even get to say "good-bye" to as he parted this world. Stark Industries was a heavy weight to bear. What with the company holding the prestigious title of the military's leading "supplier" for their drug: Weapons. He knew he was a prodigy-- that had been established long ago --but to Tony, this title was like his last gift from his father. He knew that he should take the company seriously, and take it to a whole new level of advanced weaponry using Repulsor technology, take it to something his father never even dreamed of, something that'd make his old man proud.

That being said...

He had no idea that this "breakthrough" was going to screw him over so... vigorously. Currently, Tony Stark is, as mentioned before, being held captive by a group of insurgents known as the "Ten Rings". The price for his freedom? One, bona-fide, straight off the production line Jericho missile. The catch? He was not allowed to leave the cave in which he was imprisoned. Somehow, some way, these crazy people had been collecting his weapons, or had them mass-ordered or something. However, there were weapons that his father designed in that pile as well. Obsolete, and obviously have had their explosive components removed, the missiles were really only good for using the parts as spares.

And for spares they were used. But not to build the Jericho. Tony Stark wasn't crazy enough to build something as dangerous as the Jericho for a bunch of terrorists. If they think the, "Kidnap him and ask him nicely, he'll be more than happy to make a very destructive weapon for people who wouldn't even know how to set it off" ploy was going to work, then these desert people had spent too much time in the sun. Not only that, do you seriously think he'd build a weapon for them when they just about killed him? No way in hell! Which brings us to our next topic.

Tony Stark has had his share of debts-- He owed his life to his driver, Hogan, whom he promised a permanent job with good money as acting as his personal chaperon. But this debt, even though it was indeed on the same terms as Hogan's, was much more important. In both cases, Hogan's and the current situation, he was saved from death, but this time around, there was just a tad bit more than a few scars. Tony Stark was hooked up to a car battery when he awoke from an apparent, albeit improvised, surgery.

There was a round electromagnet inserted into his chest. Of course, anyone in this particular position would be scared shitless, but Stark had some help from the enigmatic doctor, Yinsen. He was a nice, honorable man. Spoke plain English, as well as many other languages. Tony first tried to create a way to use the electromagnet without lugging around the car battery, which was due to run out in about a week. Using the Arc Reactor Technology by removing the palladium strips in certain missiles and smoldering them into a large ring to go around the new device he was constructing, Tony managed to create a device that will pump his heart for, as Yinsen pointed out, fifty lifetimes. Provided, of course, he keeps it up and running, charging it when needed. It glows magnificently, a steel blue color, showing as a symbol of rebirth, time to make his own choices.

But first, he had to get out of here.

And that is why he is dismantling the missiles he was brought in order to make Jericho. Sure, the explosive parts were taken out, but he didn't mind; that wasn't what he was after. He needed the iron coating of the missile as well as several other things that were inside the missile. He and the good doctor, Yinsen, were making a suit impervious to firepower. It was how Tony was going to get the hell out of there, taking Yinsen to his family once they could flee and taking Tony home. So here they sat, for the better part of three months, creating the suit. All he needed now was the helmet, which he was pounding out on the makeshift anvil.

"So... Stark, you said before that you don't have a family... but do you have anyone... special?" The question from Yinsen had been simple—Tony was a well-known playboy. Never belonging to any woman, at least, that was how it went. But this question he had to give thought to. "Well... My assistant... Pepper Potts. I... uh... like her a lot. I honestly wouldn't be able to do anything without her. She's been like a very close relative, but I'm not so sure..." Yinsen had become something of a brother figure to him, perhaps even, if more thought was given and poetical reasoning was involved, a father. He did, in fact, give Tony a new reason to live. "Her first name is Pepper?" Yinsen asked, being accustomed to recognizing the word 'pepper' as a spice.

"Well, it's actually Virgina, but we nicknamed her Pepper because when she came into my office for the first time because she spotted a crunching problem with my company's stock numbers, the guards tried to grab her and she shouted that she had pepper spray. Keep in mind, she is the _worst_ liar in the history of liars, so I thought it was hilarious as hell. She got the job because her boss fired her for coming straight to me to present the problem. She was the fourth person to review those papers, and she was the only one who caught that I accidentally switched two numbers. Someone like that had talent, and I couldn't let that talent go and be fired because of the negligence of my previous assistant, her boss. Plus, she's cute." Tony explained, earning a few chuckles from Yinsen. For the past three months, they have been talking on and off about their lives and their homes, as well as their jobs and other things like that. The camera watching them in the cave had no sound, so they couldn't tell what they were talking about. He considered them lucky for that. It'd be boring if all they could talk about was the missile.

Yinsen had a wife, Sakria, and a son, Tibul. He spoke well of them, honorably about his son, loyally about his wife. His job as a doctor supported them as they lived peacefully in the village of Gulmira... At least, that was until the village was attacked by The Ten Rings. He knew though, he said to Tony, that his wife and son were safe. Yinsen knew that he'd see then again once he got out of there. However, Tony knew the Ten Rings wouldn't release them _that_ easily. He had said, "They are going to kill us before we get two steps out that door, Yinsen. I don't think we'll be leaving." And Yinsen just smiled at him and said, "Think optimistically, Stark."

Thinking on it now, Tony had to wonder how he missed the obvious hint. As he sat in his Rolls Royce, turning his piping hot cheeseburger in his hands as Hogan escorted him to the press conference he had ordered Pepper to call together, Tony recalled the death of the good doctor, bleeding out from excessive shots. He looked like swiss cheese, which made Tony all the more pissed off at the Ten Rings. The doctor had been his best friend in that damned cave, and because of his efforts and his care, Tony Stark was alive... but Yinsen wasn't. There had to be a way... _any_ way... to live up to the expectations of his second father.

Yinsen said not to waste his second life. Of course he wouldn't. Yinsen has paid with his life to keep Tony alive, and he was going to make use of it. He had witnessed people being killed by the very inventions he endeavored to make more destructive and more dangerous. Even American soldiers, whom the weapons were made to protect, weren't safe from the destructive capacities of his weapons now that those goons had them. Whatever the case, Tony Stark knew he had to do something. Fast.

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(A/N: Well, how do you like it? It's my first story, so I'm a little nervous when it comes to flames, so please refrain from vulger insults about how crappy my story is. If you did not like it, then the smartest thing to do would have been to click the back button on the corner of your screen once you got tired of it.

I endeavor to do my best and if there is something you'd like to add, constructive criticism and whatnot, please do so in a review or something of that nature. I will continue once I'm sure that this story isn't just a pile of scrap. )


	2. Chapter 1

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Chapter One- The Media's Field Day.

When billionaire and media-candy Tony Stark went missing, the press had no idea how to react. At first, there were mixed feelings: Possible death, he ran, went missing, POW, KIA, MIA, kidnapped, they all came up with different ways of saying the same exact thing. For the public, this was immense monotony and a waste of front page space for three weeks straight. Sure, they were shocked too when the front page read that the playboy had went missing, but for three weeks straight? That got a tad bit boring. The casinos had no idea what to do when they heard about that— Tony had been a good friend and customer. Pepper called Rhodes, yelling at him through her own tears that Tony was his priority, his charge to look after. It was, after all, the entire purpose of the inhumanly heavy security measures. To keep watch against terrorists for Tony's sake.

As we all know now, that didn't work out _too_ well.

Imagine the look on the faces of the press when they had gotten a call from Pepper Potts, asking for a press conference. Now imagine the look on Lynn Madison's face when her boss called her at seven in the morning to wake her up and get her going to the conference.

"What? Tommy, you have GOT to be kidding me! Have you even taken a look at the clock? My shift begins in two hours! A press conference!? For what?" Lynn shouted into the receiver of her phone. Lynn Madison was an average reporter for a local newspaper in Malibu, California. Now that she thinks about it, becoming a reporter was more work that she bargained for when she signed up for the classes in high school, but it was her niche so she rather liked it.

Tommy's voice could barely be heard on the other line through the rushing jabber of other workers working to get the front line prepared for the morning edition of the paper. "What!? Tony Stark came back? _Alive_? Are you just pulling my leg, Tom?" She knew about Tony and his current situation. They had met only once since she was a good friend of Rhodes'. At the time, he was more drunk than a lightweight with a twelve pack of beer in him, and surrounded by two blondes, one on each arm. She had sighed heavily because she knew that she wasn't going to get a good story from a drunken man. She then proceeded to turn away from Rhodes and talk with another guest, a doctor, about the meeting. It made her uncomfortable to be around such a playboy, even though he had more public influence than a president and she was supposed to be covering that story.

The man she had talked to was nice enough— she had gotten enough information to make a small side-story on the side margins of the paper, but still make the front page. He admitted to trying to talk to Tony, but not getting much of a response. "Yeah, how could you? He's four sheets to the wind with a fifth coming fast," Was Lynn's reply.

So now here she was, brushing her dark hair and her teeth quickly so that she could make it on time. Changing into a nice, black shirt and white skirt with leggings and black shoes, the newswoman booked it to her car, uttering quiet obscenities to her boss all the way. She was not in the mood to see this drunken, billionaire playboy be surrounded by press, talking about his valiant conquest against an impromptu and dangerous three-month stay in Afghanistan. It was seven-thirty in the morning, and she was just too tired, but it was her job, so she'd sit through the damn press conference.

On the way to Stark Industries, where the meeting was to be held, Lynn devoted some time to think. The fact that Tony was back meant that business parters could take a huge breath of relief. It meant that the person who had been left in charge, Obadiah Stane, could hand the reins back over to where they belonged. Pepper must have been so thrilled when she found out. It also meant that the military... The soldiers fighting and dying by the hundreds despite Tony's best efforts, could take an even larger sigh of relief as there will be more weapons available to them in the future. Lynn thought this was a good thing. Some of her co-workers and colleagues, however, thought otherwise.

Because Tony Stark was a playboy, it couldn't be put past him to have one-night stands with reporters. One such reporter would be Christine Everhart. She worked for _Vanity Fai_r magazine. Some reporters, including Lynn, had heard or knew about her little stand with Stark, despite the fact that she pummeled him with hateful lines and rumor-inspiring questions. Lynn had a feeling that she was going to be front-seat today with her "merciless questions" turning the whole shebang into a remake of the Spanish Inquisition. Lynn's compassionate side told her to feel sorry for Stark. He was, after all, coming back from three months in Afghanistan. Coming back to _that_ was the probably the last thing he wanted. Then again, this was Tony Stark she was thinking about.

After parking her car, she grabbed her notebook, clearance pass, et cetera, and got out. She was one of the first ones there, but after she got out the rest of them started showing up. Now, she thought, let's see what he has to say about _this_ excursion. As the Rolls Royce pulled up to the crowd who were now clapping, Obadiah Stane was saying something along the lines of "Look at this!" but Lynn couldn't really hear anything over the racket.

Now, being a reporter who works on the field, Lynn had seen her share of disgusting things, but she wasn't expecting this.

Two scratches, maybe more, on his face, and an arm in a sling. Oh, with a slight limp. For spending three months in a terrorist-and-gang-infested country, this was the _very last _thing Lynn expected. God knows where he was— not even F-22s could find him, nor the military's copters –And _that_ was all the wounds he had? Besides the mental trauma, of course. That was surprising. He was pulling a cheeseburger from his coat as he walked up the carpet, ignoring the press' questions and the snapping of the cameras. _This man is a walking contradiction. He's incomprehensible. _She thought with a slight growl.

And to add to the mystery, the press conference was a total wreck. When everyone was inside and Stane gave his introduction, he handed the conference to Tony. He was sitting in front of the podium, gnawing away at the cheeseburger. "Why don't you all just sit down? It'd be more comfortable." He said. Sit down where there were no chairs? At a press conference? Did the sun turn his brain into an egg!? Nevertheless, everyone, reluctant at first, sat cross-legged on the floor. Tony concentrated on finishing the last bite of the cheeseburger, having downed the poor thing in under a minute. After finishing the bite, he said, "I never got to say goodbye to my father." Sure, it was sad, but this was supposed to be about what was going to happen now that he was back from Afghanistan... Right? Throughly confused, Lynn simply did her job and wrote quotes and side-notes along the paper.

"I believe..." Tony began, standing up and moving to the podium, "That Stark Industries has more services to offer. I believe that we can do more for the people," His blue eyes were definite and sure of what he was saying as he surveyed the crowd, measuring their expressions. Obviously pleased, he continued, "Which is why, it is for the sake of the people and this new idea that I have for my company that I am shutting down the weapons distribution sect. of Stark Industries." At this point, no one could say anything. Not that they were passive, oh hell no, but they were too shocked to speak.

Once people got a hold of themselves, the questions came flying left and right and Tony had to speak over their voices and strain to reach the microphone as Obadiah pushed him away, "I will take no questions and the new project will be for the betterment o—" Stark had been pushed out of the conference room by Obadiah and Rhodes at that point. The press reporters talked amongst themselves, trying to make heads or tails of what was just said.

Lynn watched Tony as he was partially dragged out the door. He was... stopping with the mass-production of weapons? That was what pooled in the most money for the company. Wasn't he worried about his stocks? Was he sacrificing the company over something that happened on the other side of the world? Outside the room, she watched Stane give Tony the "what-for" via quiet, albeit harsh, whispers. Tony simply shook his head and headed for the other side of the building. As she watched him leave, her pencil having ceased its dance on the paper, Lynn Madison tilted her head and thought, _Just what happened over there, Tony Stark?_

_

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_(A/N: I hope you like my new chapter for Fear Monger. I'd like to give lots of thanks to my reviewers, your kind reviews made me very happy. Thank you very much! Please, again, if you spot any problems, please let me know.)


	3. Chapter 2

(A/N: I'm not going to sugar-coat what I have to say because it's the reason why I cannot get online for the next week or so. My mother's going into surgery to remove two benign tumors the size of softballs. I don't care if you think this is some far-fetched excuse or not, but it's the truth. I have to be the one who looks after her while she recovers, and during the four days of her hospital stay before she comes home for bed rest, my house will be a state of emotional turmoil. I just won't be able to write due to that and the fact that I simply will not have the time. I deeply apologize and I hope you all enjoy this latest chapter of Fear Monger, which is longer than the last ones.

On a lighter note, I'm thinking of writing another movie/game novel for either Trace Memory or Hellboy when I'm done with this one. I need to plan ahead, so I'll need opinions now while I'm almost halfway through this story. I'm also open to other opinions, I just have to have seen the movie or played the game, etc. first. If you wish, please tell me which one you prefer. I'd love to hear your opinions so that I can choose which one and add more stories to my collection. Thanks! :) )

Disclaimer: Okay, so I forgot to put this in the last chapter. I sigh. I still said it before, so I'll say it again: I do NOT own Iron Man or any related characters. I do own Lynn.

Chapter Two: Simple Things.

They said that it wasn't worth the money. That it was just a way to silence the peace-loving hippies who cried for peace and for Stark Industries to do something more with their money than create death. "It just isn't worth it," the board members had said, "There isn't any money in it. Just a waste of our money and our time. But it's a way to shut them up so that we can continue working without hearing their protests outside our building, so to hell with it. Go ahead and construct this... Arc Reactor thing. We approve." Again and again they repeated that no breakthroughs could be constructed from it...

And Tony Stark had to disagree.

Tony Stark was now a living, breathing example of what Arc Reactor technology was capable of. It could save so many lives. Think of all the hospitals that could save patients this way! It's be nothing short of extraordinary! All of the people like Yinsen would have a second go at life, just like Tony. At least, that was what he thought.

Staring at the large, donut-shaped Arc Reactor, the dull reality began to sit in. He had one of those keeping him alive. He was now the world's first battery-powered human. The Arc Reactor was, after all, a very large and rechargeable battery. If that were removed from him, he'd be dead within minutes. He'd slip into cardiac arrest and die, if the shrapnel didn't kill him first...

Why did the board think that the reactor was a dead end anyway? It kept the company running just fine while being more... environmentally minded, for lack of a better way to say it, than other conventional ways of powering the company. It certainly worked, so why did they insist that no further investigations could be made into the structures and such of the technology?

Tony lost his train of thinking when Obadiah Stane walked in and said, "What the hell were you thinking!?"

_Sigh... _Tony thought, _This is gonna be fun..._

The older man walked up to Tony and stood next to him, cigar hanging out of his mouth, "The press just about passed out, Tony. You'd better have a good explanation for this antic of yours or else the whole company's finished. What do you want us to do now, start making baby cradles?" What was it with this company and resorting to making things for babies once it's weapons distribution retirement is discussed!? Tony sighed heavily, "Obi, I think we can do more than just make things that go "boom". I saw Americans being killed out there! With MY weapons! If they're getting a hold of MY stuff, how am I supposed to stop them from getting their hands on things like the Jericho!? We can do better and, by God, we are going to do _something,_" Tony's voice was amplified by the large size of the room, the echoes bouncing off of the walls and reverberating throughout the whole room, slightly scaring Obadiah with the noise. "Well, what do you suppose we do, Tony? If we're gonna do something, we'd better make it good, because we need to cover our asses from this latest drama scene," Tony gave thought, though the answer to Obadiah's question was obvious. Well, to Tony at least.

"I want us to take a leap of faith and investigate Arc Reactor technology further," He finally said, motioning to the awesome machine which took at least half of the room. Obadiah looked at him with a look that screamed "you have GOT to be kidding me".

"Tony, even the board said that was a dead end," Obadiah said in disbelief, "We'd go bankrupt before we made a single breakthrough." Tony smirked at that. He didn't see his company closing up shop _anytime _soon and a breakthrough had already been made. In a cave, no less. "I _know _there's something we can do with this technology. It'd make the board piss themselves, that's for sure. I'm telling you, Obi, it works," Tony's gaze never left Obadiah's, even though he just had a sinking feeling that he'd given himself away. He _did _leave Obadiah with Rhodey when he walked away from the conference, after all. Rhodes could have easily told Obadiah in the twenty minutes it took for this conversation to start.

"Oh really? And where's the proof to that?"

Crap. Now he had to cover his ass, fast.

"In the science, Obi. Trust me," Tony smirked, looking back to the machine. "Lemme see it, Tony."

Double crap.

Tony let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, "Okay, who told you?" He said in an "I give up" voice as he took off his sling and tie. "Rhodes," Obadiah said simply with a shrug. _I knew it._ Tony thought as he bared the part of his chest that now glowed a brilliant blue. Obadiah stared at it expectantly and obviously was still surprised at the craftsmanship. "See? We can do so much more with this technology. All we have to do is test it. Well... test it more," Tony corrected himself as he buttoned his shirt up. "Tony, we're iron mongers. We aren't paid to create living batteries. Now, there's a way we could make a weapon out of that if we try. Let me take that to the analysts, and we could start making better weapons than the Jericho! Think of how pleased the army and our customers would be if—"

"No, Obi, this isn't about blowing people up, did you not hear me in front of all of those reporters?" Tony spoke up, having just realized that Obadiah wanted to take his lifeline out of him. "Yeah I heard you, just— I think your best bet would be to lay low for a while. We'll have this conversation after I deal with the board, okay? No more antics, promise?" Tony didn't understand how the topic had switched so quickly, but it would be best if he didn't take the Arc Reactor thing _too_ far, especially after the stunt at the conference. He might regret it later on and he knew he was walking on a tightwire after putting his business on the line for a project that wasn't even going to be revealed to anyone but himself. Tony simply picked up his jacket and his sling and said, "Alright, Obi."

Tony found himself walking through the doors of his house around ten o' clock at night. "Ah. Good evening, sir. How wonderful it is to see you again." The voice was ubiquitous, but really, it was coming from the speakers in the house, one per room. The voice belonged to Jarvis, the computer mainframe that guarded the house as sort of a security system. Jarvis immediately turned on the "nighttime" lights of the house, setting them to a dim setting. "Hello Jarvis, it's great to be home." Tony replied, taking the spiral steps downward two at a time. This stairwell lead to his workshop, where he was known to spend countless hours at a time.

The drive home had allowed himself some time to think. Time to think about what he was going to do now that he had a second chance. That three months in that cave permitted himself a new look on life. Realization dawned on him that all his weapons did was destroy lives by the bunches... and now they were in the hands of gangs. Oh, he wouldn't waste his life, no. But he would so something. First, he had to set things right. The Ten Rings somehow got a hold of his weapons. He somehow had to destroy them. Yes, that's what he'd do. He'd get rid of them and make the Ten Rings fade with history. The question now was... how would he do it?

Getting clearance to a plane was out of the question. The flight plans had to run through Pepper and the military, Rhodey to be exact, (and no doubt Obadiah would find out at some point) before the plane was even fueled for the flight. No, if he was going to get to the Ten Rings, he'd have to find another way. A way where no one would know it was him... but a way safe enough so that he could return unscathed and quick enough not to raise suspicions. If Pep were to try to find him, she'd go to the workshop if she couldn't find him anywhere else. All of his cars were down here, as it served as a kind of multipurpose garage. If he up and disappeared, he'd scare her for sure. Then came the question of how he'd locate them, but he thought starting at the cave would work best.

Punching in the numbers that unlocked the workshop door, Tony had his idea in mind. The only way to get there, destroy them, and return. He'd use his suit. However, he needed to make the suit less... painful. The damn thing must have weighed at least 900 pounds! Not to mention he didn't land as softly as he wanted. Yeah, flight... he'd have to do something about that... his poor butt still ached. "Jarvis, I want you to open a new file, called Mark 2, under my private folder, please? Thanks." Tony said, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. A metallic sigh, "Sir, if you keep working on these secret projects like this, you'll fill up the folder..." Tony laughed, "Jarvis, that's what I have you for. Besides, that folder has enough memory on it for six lifetimes' worth of secret projects."

He uploaded the schematics for the armor he and Yinsen built and transferred it over to his holoboard in the middle of the room. A 3D, green, doll-like representation of the suit turned slowly on the table. Grabbing and opening the helmet, Tony set to work with getting rid of the things that made the suit sluggish, heavy, and painful. Once done, he concluded, "I want to take this and fix it up... and get my weapons back." Silence told him one of two things: One, Jarvis didn't understand. Or two, he's busy making a call to the men in white coats to take him off to the "happy hotel". With a smirk on his face, Tony began to make alterations to the new hologram and make the Mark 2 armor.

* * *

A storm was coming. Which meant that they had to hurry up. The side of his face burned as sand got into the wound. He was getting more used to it now, however, as the moments passed. His men rushed around to and fro, digging and pulling up anything they could find. His goggles did his wound no service, for the tightness of the band constricted his head and made small lines of blood flow. It felt uncomfortable and he wanted to take it off right then, but with the intensifying winds that carried more sand, he needed all of the protection he could get. Which, for Raza, the leader of the Ten Rings, wasn't much.

But that pain paled in comparison to how furious he was.

Tony Stark got away. He could have built the Jericho missile, and made Raza a happy man, but no. He had to spend all of that time making his escape plan. And that damn doctor helped him. They lied to him, of course they did. Even worse, Tony survived. That put the whole of the Ten Rings in danger. Of course, certain measures had been taken, but still... the possibility that a man with _that _many connections to the American military could just call them up and give them the details of his time here in Afghanistan were very high.

Something had to have happened to the iron suit he was wearing during his escape. The trail of exhaust he had seen fly away from the site led right here, and it was evident that it wasn't from the explosion that was caused by Stark's take-off. The sun was too hot out here in the desert for him to wear that suit and walk with it away from the site. If Raza's assumption was correct, they should find the suit right here.

Raza's guesses never failed him. Proof of that happened when one of the diggers stood, holding the iron mask Tony had worn. With a smirk, Raza ordered the dig to continue. Maybe this wasn't going to turn out as horribly as he feared.

* * *

"Ow! Careful with that, Pepper," Tony whined. Currently, Tony was lying in a reclining chair that looked like a hospital bed, his Arc Reactor chest piece on the table next to Pepper who had a disgusted look on her face and her hand a whole foot into Tony's chest. "Well, I'm sorry, but the feeling of this puss-plasma stuff is really grossing me out and it's not my fault that the wire touched the metal ring," She retorted, "I cannot believe you're making me do this."

It took Tony around ten minutes from the time he started the plans for his new suit to realize that he needed a better "heart" to make it run and stabilize flight, among other things. The metallic hands that he designed along with Jarvis were too big to fit into the crevice, so he called Pepper down. She was hesitant at first and Tony could understand why, but he had already taken out the reactor and if she didn't do it, he'd go into cardiac arrest. Not good. "Ah! Damn!" She had also pulled out the copper wire ring just now. Definitely not good.

"Okay, okay, just attach the new one to the baseplate..." He said, feeling himself go into shock. Pepper, with unsteady hands, put in his newly designed reactor and attached it to the baseplate. This caused Tony to yell. "Sorry, sorry!" Pepper apologized quickly. "It's okay, I'm okay... I think. Thanks," He said, turning the reactor until it clicked into place and smiled, leaning up and handing her a towel for her hands.

"Don't ever... ever make me do that again," She said, exasperated. He grinned and pulled off the apparatus that connected him to the machines. When that was done, and she had left, he began working on the prototype Mark 2, feeling more energetic than before. When he turned around to get the schematics for his boots, he noticed that the old reactor... was gone. _Pepper..._ He thought. Sighing, he chalked it all up to her taking it to throw it out and grabbed the schematics and began welding the boot pieces together.

* * *

A phone rang in a house on the other side of town. A small black cat, male, hopped onto the kitchen counter where the phone was and meowed loudly. "Hey, Hades, not so loud, will ya? I heard the phone the first time," Lynn said as she went over to pick up the phone, towel draped over her shoulders to prevent her wet hair from soaking her tank top. "Hello?" She asked into the phone. As she pet her cat, her boss Tom told her about her next story assignment. "Ugh, the Firefighters' Family Fund gala!? Can't you sent Danny out? At least he doesn't have to wear a dress," Daniel was her partner at the office where they pulled together most of the front-page stories. Every year, they'd send someone in to do a story about the gala since it started three years ago as a tribute to the firefighters who lost their lives on 9/11. Sure, it was a little late in coming, but the fund had been around since his father's time and Tony decided to add a little something extra just for those brave firefighters. Hence, the gala.

Hades curled around her arm and pushed his head into her side, purring loudly. "Okay, okay, I'll do the damn gala. You owe me for this, Tommy. You know how much I hate dresses." She hung up the phone and put her head against Hades' to hear him purr. "Hades, you are soooo lucky you are a male cat. You don't have to wear dresses and go to fancy parties that you aren't supposed to go to on the grounds of telling the people who can't be there what happened." The fluffy cat stared at her with his golden eyes for a moment, head tilted. _Three... two... one..._ on the count of "zero", just as Lynn predicted, he meowed as loudly as he could, demanding a hug. She sighed and picked the cat up, who subsequently flopped over her arms like a limp noodle. "C'mon Hades, you get to help me pick out my dress for next week."

* * *

Only days later the boots were finished... and now he had to test them out. Tony stepped out with the boots "clunking" and "clanking" as he walked, joystick-like handles in his hands that were connected to his reactor. Two mechanical arms accompanied him on the way to the small, black, makeshift launchpad that was close to the cars. Not smart, but that was the only place he could put it. One mechanical arm had a fire extinguisher attached to the head, and the other had a camcorder. "Okay, Dummy," He said, pointing to the arm with the fire extinguisher, "You're on for fire safety. Just a precaution. Bob," He pointed to the camcorder holding arm, "Go over in that corner and film the whole thing." The arm departed for the top left corner, then turned to face him. "Okay, we're going to start out at a ten percent thrust and work our way from there." He said, bending his knees and preparing himself. Taking a few deep, steady breaths, he gripped the joysticks tightly and said, "Okay... Here we go. In three... two... one..."

After that countdown, Tony remembered two things. The first thing was pressing the buttons on the joysticks. The second thing was the feeling of his body hitting the ceiling ledge behind him. He hit the ground with a large thud and Dummy reached over, "No, no, don't!" He cried, but Dummy started the fire extinguisher anyway, covering him in the foamy substance. Yeah... he really needed to fix that stabilizer... _after_ dismantling Dummy.

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Okay. I hope you like this new chapter, and your reviews are very welcome. :)


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